Chapter 43

In the early morning, before the sun had risen, Luo Li got up early, had breakfast, and then set out on his journey.

After a three-mile walk, Luo Li arrived at the stone quarry. In this desolate and empty quarry, the first thing Luo Li did was to let out a loud shout, "Ah!"

With this shout, his voice echoed throughout the quarry, announcing his arrival.

Then Luo Li began to examine the quality of the stone at the beginning of the quarry. He touched the stone walls, carefully observing every stone pattern and every inch of the stone. Through his eyes, his hands, and the permeation of his true qi, he became thoroughly familiar with them.

This observation took half a day. After observing, touching, and understanding, he suddenly took action!

Luo Li took out his stone knife and chisel, and with a single strike, the stone wall seemed to come alive in his hands, gradually peeling away. He cut out stone slabs one by one, placed them down, and then polished them with a stone grinder.

During this observation, the entire stone wall seemed to merge into his heart. He understood all the reactions and changes, and every move he made brought results. In no time, he had made ten stone slabs.

Then he began to polish and finish them, turning them into ordinary stone slabs and placing them aside.

Originally, these tasks would have taken Luo Li at least a whole day, but after two months of practice, he could complete ten stone slabs in just one hour.

After finishing the stone slabs, Luo Li sat on them, took out the talisman scriptures he had copied, and began to read them silently. He casually drew talismans on the stone slabs according to the descriptions in the scriptures. This study took another hour, after which Luo Li continued to make stone slabs.

While working, he also studied, combining labor and learning!

In this vast quarry, although Luo Li was alone, he felt an extraordinary sense of tranquility. Here, he could listen to the mountain wind, watch the birds, observe the clouds, and see the sunset. Life was simple yet orderly, in harmony with nature.

Although his true qi had not increased much during this period, Luo Li enjoyed this life very much. He felt that this was a kind of mental evolution, and his gains were far greater than the hard cultivation of true qi in a quiet room.

As evening approached, Luo Li carried the thirty stone slabs he had made that day back to the dormitory, placed them aside, had dinner, and took a short rest. Then he returned to his room and began to cultivate with the help of spirit stones.

The next morning, after finishing his cultivation and resting, Luo Li went to the courtyard to work, completing his duties. Then he began to replace the stone slabs, and after finishing, he took out his spirit rhinoceros pen and started to draw talismans on the stone slabs!

After reading the talisman scriptures, Luo Li used his divine power, consuming good deeds, to receive guidance. He learned what talismans should be placed on these stone slabs.

To his surprise, the guidance from the divine power of rewarding good deeds was neither the disaster-averting talisman to dispel resentment, nor the mind-clearing spell to solidify the foundation, nor the righteous qi talisman to resist evil. Instead, it was the cloud and mist talisman, which had nothing to do with resentment.

The cloud and mist talisman, when set up, would absorb moisture from the air and generate clouds and mist. He didn't know why the divine power of rewarding good deeds guided him to draw this talisman on the stone slabs. If there was an advantage to this talisman, it was that it was relatively simple to make.

To test his divine power, Luo Li began to draw the cloud and mist talisman on the stone slabs. At the same time, he drew other talismans like the disaster-averting talisman, the mind-clearing talisman, and the righteous qi talisman on other stone slabs to see why his divine power of rewarding good deeds guided him to use the cloud and mist talisman.

Actually, making talismans was not a simple task. Talismans were the embodiment of the law and the carrier of the Dao!

In ancient times, the ancestors of the human race had no inheritance and had to explore everything on their own. Some great sages observed the changes in heaven and earth, grasping a bit of the Dao. They recorded these changes with lines and began to imitate them. Some succeeded, and these imitations of the Dao became arrays, which were the Dao.

To make it easier to remember and teach, the sages depicted these fixed changes, later removing some branches and leaving only the main trunk. Over time, these simplified things became talismans, which then evolved into characters.

So, talismans represented the law, and talismans evolved from arrays, meaning the law came from the Dao. Talismans also evolved into characters, and all cultivation techniques were recorded in characters, meaning the Dao was transmitted through the law.

Making talismans had its own procedures. True talisman making required specific times for drawing, and various preparations had to be made before making talismans. It was a very serious matter, not a game.

One had to cleanse the body, hands, mouth, and writing tools, concentrate, and forget oneself. Then, one had to channel true qi and intent into the brush and complete the drawing in one stroke without any interruptions. After drawing the talisman, one had to infuse it with qi and perform unique seals to make the talisman carry the maker's spiritual energy and unique techniques, not just a simple drawing.

Fortunately, Luo Li had the spirit rhinoceros pen and the clear mud inkstone. The cloud and mist talisman was also very simple. With these two aids, Luo Li could almost succeed once every two attempts, with excellent results.

After a few days, Luo Li gradually saw the problem. The disaster-averting talisman, which should have dispelled resentment, was like using a cup of water to put out a mountain fire in an environment filled with resentment. It couldn't last long and would be penetrated and destroyed by the resentment.

The mind-clearing spell and the righteous qi talisman, which should have resisted the penetration of resentment, were also too weak. Over time, they would be gradually invaded, penetrated, and destroyed by the endless resentment.

Only the cloud and mist talisman, which could only gather moisture, strangely resisted the penetration of resentment. It did not fight against the resentment but followed the Dao of non-contention. It instinctively gathered moisture, and with the moisture, the resentment was blocked outside, so it could not penetrate the talisman, and the stone slabs were unaffected.

If the cloud and mist talisman could not resist the invasion of resentment for a long time, something even more wonderful happened. One or two stone slabs with the cloud and mist talisman were useless, but when there were ten or a hundred, they connected and gradually produced a wonderful reaction.

The moisture gathered by the cloud and mist talismans connected, forming a large cloud and mist talisman, which was an array of talismans!

This was the characteristic of the cloud and mist talisman. Moisture naturally gathered and formed clouds. Gradually, their power grew, and they could completely resist the invasion of resentment.

From then on, wherever Luo Li laid the stone slabs, there was no resentment, and the place became clean and dry, with no unpleasant odors.

Luo Li took a deep breath. This was hope. As long as he persisted, he would succeed!

Thus, Luo Li continued, mining stones, making stone slabs, transporting them back, drawing talismans, and laying them down, one by one, in the dormitory courtyard.

In September, Lao Sha was recognized by the inner gate and absorbed into the inner gate of the Spirit Butterfly Sect. In December, Gao Peng advanced to the third level of qi cultivation. In March of the following year, Luo Feng, who had not broken through the nine barriers in a year of cultivation, was expelled from the outer gate of the Spirit Butterfly Sect...

During this period, Luo Li continuously mined stone slabs, made talismans, and replaced them. From the scorching summer to the golden autumn and the snowy winter, Luo Li persisted, persisted, and persisted!

Unwavering, unyielding, undoubting, and unrelenting!

Persist, persist, persist to the end!

At first, he could only make a dozen stone slabs a day, then he struggled to make fifty, and now he could easily make a hundred a day, his strength greatly increased.

As Luo Li worked tirelessly day after day, the dormitory courtyard began to show significant changes. It became clean, the resentment dissipated, and the odor gradually decreased.

Finally, Yong Chuan, who had been watching Luo Li work tirelessly, took action. He picked up a stone knife and chisel, smiled at Luo Li, and joined him, starting to chisel and shape the stones, making stone slabs.

This was entirely voluntary, moved by Luo Li's spirit, without any grand words or promises, a selfless contribution.

With Yong Chuan's joining, Gao Peng, Hanzi, Xuan Shui, and others began to appear by Luo Li's side. Unlike the last time, they were not helping Luo Li but working for themselves and the dormitory, voluntarily and silently mining stone slabs.

Gradually, the number of people going to the southern mountain increased, one, two, three...

Ten, twenty...

Everyone was moved by Luo Li's spirit and spontaneously gathered here, mining, polishing, and working hard...

One day, Old Ji An walked out of his office and joined the group!

After he joined, all the disciples of the dormitory joined, and even the 90-year-old elders were working. No one could stand by and not join; not joining would be a disgrace!

With so many people, nearly a hundred, they could produce a thousand stone slabs a day. Luo Li no longer had to mine stone slabs himself. His task was to draw talismans, drawing the cloud and mist talisman on each stone slab, connecting them to form a talisman array to repel resentment.

Thus, by March of the following year, exactly one year since Luo Li joined the Spirit Butterfly Sect, after nine months, all the stone slabs in the dormitory courtyard were replaced. The entire courtyard was completely free of any foul odors, looking brand new!

Actually, the replacement was not complete. Instead of blocking, it was better to guide. Luo Li deliberately left one area where he used the spirit-attracting talisman. This way, the resentment would be compressed by the moisture and gathered in this area. By replacing the stone slabs in this area periodically, there would be no foul odors!

When Old Ji An, the head of the dormitory, announced the success and the dormitory provided funds for a feast for all the disciples, everyone cheered. They succeeded, they succeeded, and they lifted Luo Li into the air, once, twice, three times!

Everyone celebrated, but the happiest was Luo Li!

In the midst of everyone's celebration, as he was thrown into the air, Luo Li had a strange feeling.